[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 3819 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 3819
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 22, 2008
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to reimburse veterans receiving emergency treatment in
non-Department of Veterans Affairs facilities for such treatment until
such veterans are transferred to Department facilities, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Emergency Care Fairness Act
of 2008''.
SEC. 2. MANDATORY REIMBURSEMENT OF VETERANS RECEIVING EMERGENCY
TREATMENT IN NON-DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
FACILITIES UNTIL TRANSFER TO DEPARTMENT FACILITIES.
(a) Certain Veterans Without Service-Connected Disability.--Section
1725 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``may reimburse'' and
inserting ``shall reimburse''; and
(2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking subparagraph (C) and
inserting the following new subparagraph (C):
``(C) until--
``(i) such time as the veteran can be
transferred safely to a Department facility or
other Federal facility; or
``(ii) such time as a Department facility
or other Federal facility agrees to accept such
transfer if--
``(I) at the time described in
clause (i), no Department facility or
other Federal facility agrees to accept
such transfer; and
``(II) the non-Department facility
in which such medical care or services
is furnished makes and documents
reasonable attempts to transfer the
veteran to a Department facility or
other Federal facility.''.
(b) Certain Veterans With Service-Connected Disability.--Section
1728 of such title is amended--
(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following
new subsection (a):
``(a) The Secretary, under such regulations as the Secretary shall
prescribe, shall reimburse veterans entitled to hospital care or
medical services under this chapter for the reasonable value of
emergency treatment (including travel and incidental expenses under the
terms and conditions set forth in section 111 of this title) for which
such veterans have made payment, from sources other than the
Department, where such emergency treatment was rendered to such
veterans in need thereof for any of the following:
``(1) An adjudicated service-connected disability.
``(2) A non-service-connected disability associated with
and held to be aggravating a service-connected disability.
``(3) Any disability of a veteran in the veteran has a
total disability permanent in nature from a service-connected
disability.
``(4) Any illness, injury, or dental condition of a veteran
who--
``(A) is a participant in a vocational
rehabilitation program (as defined in section 3101(9)
of this title); and
``(B) is medically determined to have been in need
of care or treatment to make possible the veteran's
entrance into a course of training, or prevent
interruption of a course of training, or hasten the
return to a course of training which was interrupted
because of such illness, injury, or dental
condition.'';
(2) in subsection (b), by striking ``care or services''
both places it appears and inserting ``emergency treatment'';
and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(c) In this section, the term `emergency treatment' has the
meaning given such term in section 1725(f)(1) of this title.''.
Passed the House of Representatives May 21, 2008.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.